DAL vs TCOM vs COST Stock Comparison

Delta Air Lines, Trip.com and Costco Wholesale Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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DAL Delta Air Lines, Inc.
$81.63 -3.8% 1M +38.9% 1Y
Market cap
$51.83B
P/E
15.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$71.80B
Div. yield
–
Airlines Industrials
2 wins
TCOM Trip.com Group Ltd
$38.56 -0.2% 1M -46.8% 1Y
Market cap
$26.07B
P/E
7.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$9.45B
Div. yield
–
Travel Services Consumer Discretionary
5 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Trip.com leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Trip.com 5, Costco Wholesale 4, Delta Air Lines 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionDALTCOMCOSTLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $51.83B $26.07B $450.19B COST
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 15.8x 7.6x 48.8x TCOM
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 15.9x 10.6x 46.9x TCOM
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +14.1% +18.1% +10.1% TCOM
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 4.6% 36.1% 3.0% TCOM
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 10.8% 5.3% 21.7% COST
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 1.3x — -1.1x COST
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +38.9% -46.8% +9.2% DAL
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +15.9%/yr +6.2%/yr +15.2%/yr DAL
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 38.4% 36.2% 20.0% COST
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 39/100 82/100 51/100 TCOM

Percentile Scorecard

DALTCOMCOST

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisDALTCOMCOST
Valuation 66 #47 of 136 93 #3 of 28 8 #37 of 40
Growth 46 #66 of 121 75 #7 of 25 76 #10 of 38
Profitability 50 #57 of 112 67 #9 of 25 74 #10 of 36
Financial Health 23 #108 of 140 93 #3 of 30 85 #7 of 40
Shareholder Returns 10 #72 of 80 – 15 #24 of 28
Overall 39 82 51
  • DAL ranked among 150 companies in Transportation
  • TCOM ranked among 31 companies in Travel and Lodging
  • COST ranked among 41 companies in Staples Retail

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodDALTCOMCOSTSPY
1 month -3.8%-0.2%+7.7% +0.7%
3 months -7.8%-17.0%+4.4% +3.7%
6 months +20.1%-28.9%-1.8% +7.1%
Year to date +17.6%-46.4%+15.5% +12.8%
1 year +38.9%-46.8%+9.2% +11.9%
3 years +161.4%+9.5%+79.5% +85.2%
3 years, per year +37.8%+3.1%+21.6% +22.8%
5 years +108.6%+35.0%+102.6% +67.6%
5 years, per year +15.9%+6.2%+15.2% +10.9%
10 years +97.5%-13.8%+565.1% +262.0%
10 years, per year +7.0%-1.5%+20.9% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureDALTCOMCOSTSPY
Volatility, 1Y 38.4%36.2%20.0% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 33.8%42.8%19.8% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.720.58-0.20 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 1.01-1.290.46 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -48.0%-51.9%-31.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -12.8%-51.2%-9.0% -1.2%
52-week high $93.66$78.96$1,094.32 $779.14
52-week low $55.65$37.96$850.00 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleDALTCOMCOST
P/E now vs peer median 16.3xmedian 16.5x 7.4xmedian 18.4x 47.9xmedian 22.1x
P/S now vs peer median 0.7xmedian 0.9x 2.7xmedian 1.5x 1.5xmedian 0.5x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 8.1xmedian 8.8x —median 14.6x 29.7xmedian 9.5x
P/FCF now vs peer median 17.8xmedian 11.9x —median 17.0x 47.1xmedian 16.0x
P/B now vs peer median 2.4xmedian 1.2x 1.1xmedian 2.4x 12.3xmedian 2.8x
PEG now vs peer median -8.76median 0.84 0.14median 0.30 3.52median 1.07

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsDALTCOMCOST
Revenue $71.80B $9.45B $303.15B
Gross profit – $7.55B $38.88B
Operating income $5.29B $1.50B $11.69B
Net income $3.29B $3.42B $9.23B
Free cash flow $3.02B – $9.38B
R&D – $2.30B –
EPS (diluted) $4.99 $4.88 $20.76
Cash & equivalents $3.79B $8.26B $20.21B
Total debt $13.95B $18.23B $6.16B
Shares (diluted) 659.00M 698.38M 444.43M
Enterprise value $34.02B -$18.96B $373.47B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricDALTCOMCOST
P/E 16.3x 7.4x 47.9x
P/FCF 17.8x – 47.1x
P/Operating cash flow 6.7x – 27.9x
P/S 0.7x 2.7x 1.5x
P/B 2.4x 1.1x 12.3x
P/Tangible book 3.2x 1.2x 12.3x
EV/EBITDA 8.1x – 29.7x
EV/EBIT 12.1x 11.5x 36.5x
EV/Revenue 0.9x 1.8x 1.4x
EV/FCF 21.1x – 45.4x
EV/Operating cash flow 8.0x – 27.0x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -8.76 0.14 3.52

Growth

14 metrics
MetricDALTCOMCOST
Revenue growth (1Y) 14.1% 18.1% 10.1%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 7.8% 27.2% 7.8%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – 16.9% 10.0%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – 40.9% 9.4%
Operating income growth (1Y) -12.9% -28.2% 12.5%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -2.3% 42.4% 12.9%
Net income growth (1Y) -28.9% 34.1% 13.9%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -1.1% 54.9% 13.6%
EPS growth (1Y) -29.5% 33.2% 14.0%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -1.9% 51.8% 13.6%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 0.3% – 18.6%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 4.0% – 12.6%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -1.7% – 19.7%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 36.6% – 11.6%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricDALTCOMCOST
Gross margin – 80.0% 12.8%
EBITDA margin 11.0% – 4.7%
Operating margin 7.4% 15.9% 3.9%
Pretax margin 6.1% 45.7% 4.0%
Net margin 4.6% 36.1% 3.0%
FCF margin 4.2% – 3.1%
Operating cash flow margin 11.1% – 5.2%
Return on equity 14.8% 14.3% 26.6%
Return on assets 3.8% 8.9% 10.5%
Return on invested capital 10.8% 5.3% 21.7%
Return on capital employed 10.0% 6.1% 26.7%
Asset turnover 0.8x 0.2x 3.5x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 2.4x – 1.7x
Stock comp / revenue – – 0.3%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricDALTCOMCOST
Debt / assets 16.2% 10.2% 6.9%
Debt / equity 0.6x 0.2x 0.2x
Net debt / EBITDA 1.3x – -1.1x
Debt / FCF 4.6x – 0.7x
Liabilities / assets 73.8% 38.0% 59.8%
Equity / assets 26.2% 62.0% 40.2%
Interest coverage – 19.8x 80.6x
Current ratio 0.4x 1.3x 1.1x
Quick ratio 0.2x 1.0x 0.6x
Cash ratio 0.1x 0.9x 0.5x
Altman Z-score 1.51 – 9.30

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricDALTCOMCOST
Dividend yield 1.0% – 0.6%
Net buyback yield – – 0.2%
Shareholder yield 1.0% 0.0% 0.7%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusDALTCOMCOST
Forward P/E 15.9xFY2026 10.6xFY2026 46.9xFY2027
EPS, next fiscal year $5.14FY2026 $3.64FY2026 $21.22FY2027
EPS growth, next FY -11.7%FY2026 -44.2%FY2026 +2.2%FY2027
EPS growth, the year after +40.7% +17.0% +22.4%
Revenue, next fiscal year $71.03BFY2026 $9.46BFY2026 $345.44BFY2027
Revenue growth, next FY +21.9%FY2026 +6.0%FY2026 +14.0%FY2027
Revenue growth, the year after -4.2% +20.9% -4.4%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersDALTCOMCOST
Held by institutions 88.2% 23.0% 73.2%
Institutions holding 1,513 320 4,211
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.6% +1.2% +5.0%
Institutions buying 817 152 1,921
Institutions selling 483 119 1,706
Buyers to sellers 1.69 1.28 1.13

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

DALTCOMCOST
DAL 1.00 0.13 -0.06
TCOM 0.13 1.00 0.04
COST -0.06 0.04 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, DAL, TCOM and COST?

Costco Wholesale (COST) is the largest by market capitalisation: Delta Air Lines (DAL) $51.83B, Trip.com (TCOM) $26.07B, Costco Wholesale (COST) $450.19B.

Which stock is cheaper, DAL, TCOM and COST?

Trip.com (TCOM) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Delta Air Lines (DAL) 15.8x, Trip.com (TCOM) 7.6x, Costco Wholesale (COST) 48.8x). On next year's consensus earnings, Trip.com (TCOM) is cheapest (Delta Air Lines (DAL) 15.9x, Trip.com (TCOM) 10.6x, Costco Wholesale (COST) 46.9x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Trip.com (TCOM) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Delta Air Lines (DAL) +14.1%, Trip.com (TCOM) +18.1%, Costco Wholesale (COST) +10.1%.

Which company is more profitable?

Trip.com (TCOM) has the highest net margin (Delta Air Lines (DAL) 4.6%, Trip.com (TCOM) 36.1%, Costco Wholesale (COST) 3.0%). On return on invested capital, Costco Wholesale (COST) leads (Delta Air Lines (DAL) 10.8%, Trip.com (TCOM) 5.3%, Costco Wholesale (COST) 21.7%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Delta Air Lines (DAL) returned the most: Delta Air Lines (DAL) +38.9%, Trip.com (TCOM) -46.8%, Costco Wholesale (COST) +9.2%. Over five years, Delta Air Lines (DAL) compounded fastest (Delta Air Lines (DAL) +15.9%/yr, Trip.com (TCOM) +6.2%/yr, Costco Wholesale (COST) +15.2%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Costco Wholesale (COST) has been the steadiest (Delta Air Lines (DAL) 38.4%, Trip.com (TCOM) 36.2%, Costco Wholesale (COST) 20.0%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, DAL, TCOM and COST?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Trip.com (TCOM) leads on 5. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.